John Boyne tells his ghost story superbly. He introduces the main character, Eliza Caine with enough background information to interest the reader but not bore them with unnecessary details. Eliza’s father passes away and she is left alone in the world. She leaves her position as a school teacher to begin afresh as a governess at Gaudlin Hall.

As soon as she reaches the platform near death experiences begin to follow her. This is when the ghostly part of the story begins. I do not want to spoil the plot for any future readers but I will say that there were some parts of the story that gave me chills, the reason behind the haunting is plausible and the ending was satisfyingly eerie.

I really enjoyed reading the book and have to say that it is one of the better ghost stories that have been released recently.

QUOTES:

‘the toes dancing beneath the sheets, a sensation of the most delightful pleasure, until a pair of hands grabbed both my ankles tightly…’

‘And I would never allow it to harm the children, although that did not seem to be its intention anyway.’

* The Séance by John Harwood – ‘If my sister Alma had lived, I should never have begun the séances.’

* The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson – ‘No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream.’